Giants’ WR Victor Cruz explains post-game frustrations

Victor Cruz had some explaining to do after his comments Sunday night that “Somebody’s got to give me an answer” as to why he was never targeted during the New York Giants’ 24-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Fortunately, or unfortunately if your view is that you’d rather Cruz just kept his frustration — and his backtracking from his comments — in house, Cruz was making the media rounds on Monday morning.

Here is part of what he told NFL Network on “Good Morning Football:”

“After the game obviously I was a little angry. So some of the comments stemmed from anger. But I didn’t say anything bad. But, just out of anger, you know you just lost the game, and honestly I just want to go out there and contribute at the end of the day. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow when I step into work and have a conversation with Coach McAdoo, which I plan on doing, and we’ll take it from there. But I’m not angry. I’m not a disgruntled employee.”

Here is part of what he said on Sirius XM NFL Radio:

“Just as a competitor you want to be able to contribute whatever you can to the game in any way possible ... To not be able to be involved in the game in any way from a receiver standpoint was just unfortunate and a little frustrating. That’s what I voiced.”

Is Cruz right to be frustrated? Obviously, it is a bit mystifying why the Giants seem to have someone left out of the mix in recent games. As thrilled as he is to be playing again after a season-and-a-half away from the game, there has to be part of Cruz whose pride is hurt by the fact that after being the top dog for so long he is No. 3 in a three-wide receiver set, with Odell Beckham Jr. No. 1 and Sterling Shepard No. 2 and having supplanted him in Cruz’s best spot, the slot.

Cruz is now fifth on the Giants in receptions this season with 27.